Avoid The Noive!

DC Sports Nexus ---- Monday, December 5, 2011

The Washington Capitals fell to 7 points behind the division leading Panthers after losing in Florida 5-4 on Monday Night. The game wasn't as close as it sounds as the Caps scored the 4th goal with under 2 minutes left in the game.

The Caps are down to a 1-3 record under new coach Dale Hunter, who for some reason decided to put Neuvy in goal instead of Tomas Vokoun who shut out the Panthers earlier in the season in a 3-0 Caps victory. I like my coaches making logical decisions instead of superstitious decisions.

The Panthers started off the first period strong scoring back to back goals 13 seconds apart early in the period. Later in the same frame Florida took the 3-0 lead (2 out of 3 on Power Plays) but the Caps came back less than a minute later on a Mike Knuble slapper coming down on the 3-2 break. The Caps had some hope heading to the locker room down 3-1.

In the 2nd period Neuvy decided he was going to play the goalie position outside of the crease. The first Florida goal (another Power Play) came when Neuvy dove for a puck and the biscuit went into the empty net as Mikey was somehow behind the goal. Later Neuvy was a few feet outside the right of the crease while the puck was on the left and the Panthers went up 5-1. The Caps got another glimmer of hope when Cody Eakin scored with 20 seconds remaining in the period.

The 3rd period was all Caps but it was way to late. Ovi was on the ice in what seemed like the entire period (double/triple shifting). Laich and Chimera scored in the final 10 minutes giving the Caps hope being down 5-4 with under 2 minutes to play but after a frenzy of shots the buzzer sounded and the rats rained down on the ice.

Erskine got in another fight which racked up an insane 17 penalty minutes. John and his 60+ NHL fights pounded Bracken Kearns in his 2nd NHL fight.

Notes & Questions:

What was up with the Erskine penalties. Five minute major...that is normal for fighting. That means John & Kearns would sit out 5 minutes but the teams aren't a man down? However Erskine also picked up a 2 minute penalty for instigating, another penalty I never heard of before. That one was served by the Caps. Finally, that same play Erskine picked up a 10 minute misconduct penalty. What were those 2 other penalties for? Was Erskine out for 15 minutes? Do you sit in the box for majors or on the bench?

Hockey players smile during games more than any other sport

Florida's arena is a joke, it sounded like a library and looked like a minor league hockey game. Paul Newman should have played.

Is the only way Holtby gets up from Hershey if an injury occurs?

If a player is clearing from the D-Zone and it hits the goalie is that a shot? What if it goes in? Are shots a statistition's judgement call?

2 comments:

In regards to your Holtby question, yes we will probably only see him in Washington if an injury happens. If he was playing like he did last year there might be a possibility of him being called up however he is actually having a pretty down year in Hershey.

Instigating is a rule designed to stop big bad bullies from thumping people that do not want to fight. It isn't called too much, but if you are clearly the aggressor and your dance partner is not too interested you might get an additional two for instigating. Generally only willing combatants fight these days, but there was a time that everyone needed to fight because occasionally someone would grab you and start throwin' whether you were interested or not. The 'instigator' penalty is designed to stop that. All penalties are normally served in the penalty box. However, you will sometimes see people leave for repairs or if they have a major and there is less time in the period than 5 minutes. The ten minute misconduct is a cool down penalty at the ref's discretion. The team is not penalized with a man disadvantage, but the player must sit in the box and feel shame for 10 minutes. You see these handed out liberally at the end of feisty games, to sit down those players with a history of going bat-shit crazy.

The Origins Of This Blog: Prior to this season I had only watched a handful of hockey games. I never really liked watching hockey and I pretty much hated the NHL. Coming in I knew the basics of the game from playing NHL '94 back in the day, but wasn't really aware of how the game really worked. I didn't know half the penalties, I didn't know that a few teams existed or didn't exist, and I was easily frustrated by many things that happened in the NHL. (Icing, Trapezoids, Biscuits, Twigs, Blue Jackets, Plus/Minus, Goons...AHHHH) However, when my beloved NBA was in danger of being locked out for an entire season, that was my cue to force myself to watch something that I previously semi-despised. That brings us to today. I am now a die hard Capitals fan...I now know a bit about hockey...but I still have a long way to go.